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Project Report
Looking ahead The WEDistrict team sees lots of future opportunities for the project . The WEDistrict website features an interactive map that shows European countries ’ respective shares of district heating and cooling . From this map , we glean that a high number of those countries use district heating systems that are based on fossil fuels . “ In these systems , the fossil fuel contribution can be easily replaced or minimised by integrating renewable energies ( or by taking advantage of other sources ). WEDistrict aims at integrating the most cost-effective RES solution for each individual case by evaluating a huge number of combinations , taking into account the valorisation of local resources , involvement of end users , and smart ICT to manage the whole process ,” the team explains . Between 24 and 26 October 2022 , the partners and researchers of the WEDistrict project met up at the University Politehnica in Bucharest to discuss the status of the project . “ Our special guest , the former energy minister of Romania and member of the governing board of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology ( EIT ), suggested to start a company to upscale those solutions and emphasised that the ‘ time for decentralised energy systems is now .’” Associate Professor Răzvan Nicolescu , governing board member of the European Institute of Technology . He spoke about the European perspective and wider impact of the project for Romania and beyond . At this meeting , Associate Professor Constantin Ionescu – the vice-dean of the Faculty of Energy Engineering –
Solar panels on the roof of the building at the Bucharest demosite .
could finally present the active WEDistrict demonstrator at the Renewable Energy Sources laboratory : a retrofitted part of the University ’ s district heating system that combines geothermal with solar energy to enable fossil-free district heating in this part of the university system . The demo site in Córdoba ( Spain ) is still under construction . Its focus lies on providing a new district heating and cooling network . More information will be featured on the WEDistrict website at a later date . It is currently being held up due to delayed project parts . As the WEDistrict project is an ambitious and extensive project , we will surely be hearing about it for quite a while longer . Hopefully , the demo sites will prove to be greatly successful and spark a change in the way the EU tackles heating and cooling systems and their sustainability .
KCI will organize a two-day event helping the world become a greener place .
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ESSEN
At the Green Steel World
Expo & Conference , visitors will be able to learn from and engage with all parties involved in the development , trialing and application of the latest technologies , strategies and processes available to decarbonize the steel industry .
The event will take place on 4 – 5 April 2023 at Messe Essen , Germany .
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